There's something shady about the Netflix and Chill Film Festival

Remember our article that we posted on Tuesday about the cheekily named “Netflix and Chill Film Festival” that’s coming to Vancouver? Well, something isn’t quite right.

While it seems to be franchised and has been reported on by media outlets around the globe, Vancouver’s incarnation of the film festival seems to be, well, off.

Vancity Buzz was alerted by the Parks Board of Vancouver that not only did the organizer, Luciana Colucci with the Colucci Group, fail to apply for a permit for the festival in Stanley Park, but they’ve never even heard of the festival or the Colucci Group.

“The reality is, we first learned about this event through the Vancity Buzz article that had been produced,” Octavio Silva with the Vancouver Parks Board told Vancity Buzz.

“We were a little bit surprised by it.”

Both Vancity Buzz and the Vancouver Parks Board have made attempts to contact Colucci for a comment, but have been unsuccessful. The Colucci Group website is now inactive.

Unauthorized events in the park are always a concern for multiple reasons, said Silva, most notably when it comes to public safety.

“An event of this magnitude or this size – an event like this that has the characteristics including the provision of alcohol – it actually gets vetted through a pretty comprehensive group of folks that involves different layers of the city.”

The Netflix and Chill Film Festival promised vendors selling popcorn, pillows, blankets, alcoholic beverages, yoga, DJ tents and even claimed all of the money from ticket sales would go to charity.

So, beware of this one, Vancouver – there’s something shady going on.

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About the author

Lauren Sundstrom Lauren is a Staff Writer and Projects Assistant at Vancity Buzz. She is a graduate of BCIT's Broadcast and Online Journalism program. She loves reporting on breaking news and lifestyle content. If you feel like you have a story that needs to be told, fire her a tweet.